As technology improves, wireless communications, such as cellular communications, have become more and more ubiquitous. Some cellular networks include one or more satellites for providing cellular communications to mobile devices, such as satellite phones. In such systems, a satellite is capable of transmitting and receiving data from multiple electronic devices and routing the received data to a ground station for further processing. To enable such communications, satellites typically include large antennas that provide multiple communication beams to form a coverage area on the Earth. Electronic devices within the coverage area communicate with the satellites via the multiple beams. The satellites also include additional antennas to enable communications with the ground station. The antennas on-board the satellites represent a significant portion of the overall size, weight, and power consumption of the satellites, and thus represent challenges in decreasing the overall cost, weight, size, and power consumption of the satellites.
To perform communications with multiple satellites, the ground station includes multiple antennas. Using multiple antennas at a ground station increases cost and complexity of the system. Additionally, to perform communication with satellites as they traverse respective orbital paths, the antennas at the ground station are mechanically steered to follow the orbital paths of the satellites. For example, a ground-based antenna includes gimbals, motors, and other components that mechanically steer the antenna (e.g., that change an orientation of the antenna, a position of the antenna, or both) to track a satellite as the satellite moves across the sky. These mechanical steering components increase cost and complexity of the ground-based antennas.
Another challenge facing satellite systems is identification of the various satellites at the ground station. One way to identify satellites is to have each satellite include identification information in each transmission to the ground station. Including identification information in each transmission to the ground station increases network congestion and decreases throughput in the satellite system.